Rep. Binay blames ‘overpriced’ Makati building to China

Representative Abigail Binay blamed the allegedly overpricing of the controversial Makati parking building to the construction boom in China sometime in 2008.

In her interview with Karen Davila on Headstart, Binay said the relatively high costs of construction materials used in the building was brought by the seemingly high demand by China as the country prepared for Beijing Olympics that year.

“You also have to remember the time it was built, it was the time when there was so much high demand on steel because China was buying all the steel because they were building for the Beijing Olympics,” she told Davila.

The Binays are at the center of a controversy over the alleged overpriced building, said to have cost P2.2 billion and critics have accused the family of receiving huge kickbacks from the phase 1 and 2 of project.

This was revealed by former Makati Vice-Mayor Ernesto Mercado during his testimony at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee investigation, who himself, confessed to have received commission from project.

Construction experts who joined Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel in an ocular inspection have valued the construction of the building at less than P1 billion, describing it as an “ordinary” one. This is contrary to what the Binays claimed, saying the building was “world-class”, and therefore, justifying the cost of its construction.

The younger Binay further explained, the project went through 10 audits by the Commission on Audit (COA) and the agency never raised any issue about its price.

The incumbent vice president, Mayor Junjun Binay and other city officials are now facing plunder over the scandalous project.

Senate probe done in aid of 2016 election

In the same interview, Binay accused Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV of using the Senate investigation to undermine her father’s presidential plan – in aid of 2016 election and not of legislation.

She also compared the on-going probe to an impeachment proceeding, accusing the senators of trying to remove his father via an impeachment and filing a case afterwards.

Binay explained the vice president is an impeachable position and noted even the Ombudsman has not required her father to answer the allegation.

“It is not allowed. You have to be impeached first before you can be charged,” Binay, who is also a lawyer, said.

He also criticized how the Senate probe became one sided and not fair, with the senators themselves leading the witness to answer a question they would only want to hear.

The presidential daughter added, it was not the witness who declared the building was overpriced, but the senators, particularly Trillanes and Cayetano, who, according to Binay, were already convinced of the allegation even before the start of the Senate investigation.

The two senators have earlier declared their intention to run for president in 2016, hoping to challenge Vice President Binay, the frontrunner who has been leading mock polls and surveys lately.

The vice president need not attend Senate hearings

The younger Binay also believes his father need not attend the Senate hearings despite challenges from Trillanes and Cayetano to personally appear before the committee and answer the allegation.

If the Senate decided to send a subpoena for her father, Rep. Binay said the vice president should go to the court and ask for an injunction.

While she believes her father should speak up and finally answer the accusations against him, it does not have to be done at the Senate, but rather at the Ombudsman or by calling a press conference.